Thursday, May 20, 2010

Despite the stubborn defence by Serzhant Trotsky’s squad, which threw back the assault of a force three times their size, the rest of the battalion’s position has been over run. While most of battalion was killed or captured our heroes have tried to slip through the German line to rejoin Soviet forces at the next line of defence.

The heavily wounded Satan could not keep up and so he stayed behind to cover the others withdrawal. Expending every last bullet he had and then blew himself (and hopefully some Germans) with his last grenade…

In their flight the squad met up with some other stragglers – including TWO more DP gunners (or at least guys that had the sense to pick up a DP and all the ammo they could find before retiring). After Avoiding German patrols in the woods for a couple days they have just about made it back to friendly lines….

SCENARIO

Russians start in the southwest corner of the table and must exit off the north edge – either by the bridge (in the Northeast corner) or by crossing the river (which would require making a swimming roll at -4… or they drown..)

There is a Soviet HMG team positioned at the bridge covering the road.

Germans will enter from the South east.

There is no victory… only survival…

FORCES

Soviet Forces (Elements of the 13th Rifle Regiment, 2nd Rifle Division, I Rifle Corps, Tenth Army, Western Special Military District)

So I could get to bed at a reasonable time (as I’ve been getting up for early morning rides this week) and just to have the scenario done in a reasonable amount of time I made it a timed scenario – starting on turn 10 I would roll a d10 and if the total of the turn number and the roll was 20+ that was it the game was over… Of course the question comes up “Why”…? More germans arrive? The bridge is blown (OOOh that would have been a good one, now that I think of it…)? What I decided was at that point the woods would be saturated with a Soviet artillery barrage and anyone left south of the bridge would take 4d6 damage! My hope was to instill a sense of urgency – that they had to get across the bridge and NOT get bogged down in a firefight with the Germans…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Patrick was the first to srrive so he got to wear the “lucky pilotka” which got him a bonus benny… he also brought a Natural Brew Root Beer which got him another bonus benny for a grand total of four. Viktor Krauss (his new character after Ovek Satan died) should have been the luckiest man on the table…

The Russians ready to make their dash up the road to safety.

The Germans fixin’ to head them off.

The Russians make a run for it… wait… where they heck is Viktor going…?! Patrick assured us he had a “plan”…

The Russians start taking fire from the woods, one of the conscript extras is down, another wounded.

The Germans closing in.

One of the German LMG teams got set up and took down two more Russian Conscript extras and leaving the fourth irrevocably broken (though he was put out of his misery later in the turn).

Jackson drew a Joker and decided it was time for Ivan to chuck a grenade! BLAM! He took out most of one rifle team!

Shortly after, however he was feeling a little too closed in within the turn he was out of bennies (despite having received a bonus one through fortune and calamity)!

Around this time, the already injured, survivor of the previous two engagements, Yuri Gelakhov, was shot… TWICE… and bled to death lying in the bushes by some dirt road in Poland – far, far away from his home by the Don….

Ivan broke contact and ran off across the road. He stopped a moment by the supine body of the Cossack, not to staunch the flow of blood, but to search him and see if he still had that grenade he’d had earlier…

Viktor finally came out out of the deep dark forest to the edge of the road and started gunning down Germans. He took down two and injured a third!

Time was running short, however… turn ten had come and gone and it was only a matter of time before the game ending barrage came in…

Ivan was the first to make a dash across the open for the bridge – he was cut down in a hail of fire from the Germans… Serzhant Trotsky made it across unscathed just in the nick of time. Rayadovoy Ivan Avaderski made a dash next but was winged by Feldwebel Meuller he was unable to recover and make it across before the barrage – he was caught in it and blown apart. Rayadovoy Androv Virgilovski was the last to make the dash across the open. As all the Gemrans had already shot he made it TOO the bridge but not across. Luckily when the barrage came down he still had bennies and soaked all the wounds he took (the concussion of the first blast BLEW him across the bridge and into a trench on the other side!).

It was another bad day for the Germans 11 out of 17 taken out of action – before the barrage came in. That amounted to 3xKIA, 4x Serious wounds, 2x Light wounds, and 2x nicks and scratches or temporary shock cases…

Of the Russian concript extras one was KIA, two were seriously injured and left to die of their wounds. The fourth was taken prisoner of war and died a year later in a labour camp.

Coming soon on Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

More WW2 Action (in two weeks – as I am otherwise engaged next Wednesday). In the meantime there should be a couple reports of the Savage Saturday Realms of Cthulhu campaign. And you can always sheck out what’s being painted at my Wargaming Blog to get an idea of what’s in store for the characters in upcoming actions…

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Not having had much sleep or time to prepare over the last week as Amanda's been out of town and I've been hauling both kids around to eveything for the last week... I kind of pulled this one out of my butt at the last moment... It went over not too bad all things considered.

September 1920, England

SITUATION

Since our last episode Sgt. Malaker has recovered under the close care of Laurel Trebeau, who had studied psychiatric care at a university in Canada, before her father died and had to return to England.

Malaker, Cranston and Trebeau have continued to work for Dr. Wraight on a number of projects over the summer.

Dr. Wraight received a letter of introduction from Byron Mackenzie, a Scottish Laird, who had heard from an acquaintance that she and her staff had some experience in “stange happenings” in the highlands and wondered if she’d meet with him to discuss a “strange situation” that had arisen on his properties. He was traveling to London for some business in a week and would very much like to stop at Cambridge and meet with her.

After checking with her associates she wrote Mr. Mackenzie and explained she was much to busy with preparations for the new term but her associates would be able to meet with him and offer any assistance they could

On 9 September everyone met in Cambridge. Mr. Mackenzie explained his situation. For the last year sheep have been disappearing and turning up torn asunder. It weemed as though it might be the work of wolves or some other predator, but it seems to have only been happening around the full moon. The Sheppard/Gameskeeper was insinuating that it was the work of a werewolf. Mr. Mackenzie believed it was either the gameskeeper or someone else causing the trouble and spreading rumours and suppositions.

After a (very) brief check in the library Laurel determined that there was no information at all about werewolves and they all made their way off to Scotland in the morning.

On the 12th they arrived at Mackenzies estate and settled in to the Castle.

The following day they went out to find the Sheppard/Gameskeeper but found only his aged father who told them nothing of use and that the Sheppard was away off up the glen and would be back in a couple days. Laurel had a brief look through the castle library and found little of use.

On the 14th they wandered into the village and had a chat with the local Preacher and found there was no one new that had moved into the area in some time and the only people that have returned of later were a few veterans of the Great War. Cranston chatted with them at the pub and as it turned out they’d all served with the 51st Highland Division – which Tom’s battalion had served along side at Vimy in 1917. They swapped some war stories shared some memories but turned up no useful information.

The next day they loaded up with gear to go a-wandering in search of clues out in the countryside. They got directions from the assistant gameskeeper as to the location of the most recent attacks. After a day of hiking about they found nothing and camped out in the glen. The next day they tracked down the Sheppard and his herd. He seemed a bit nervous but quite convinced it was a werewolf that was attacking his herd. He had seen it when it attacked in July and described it for them – Giant, wolf-like… He had even taken a shot at it with his shotgun.

The 17th they spent the day hiking back to the Laird’s Castle.

On the 18th they wandered into town again and asked about the “neighbors” – who lived some distance off.

The 20th they spent traveling to the neighboring village and found they’d been having no troubles around there. The following day they traveled back, once again, to the Castle.

With eight days left they traveled to Inverness to do some investigating there. Laurel checked out the local library, but only turned up general information about werewolves in general books about myths and folklore – silver, full moons, etc… The following day they gathered some silver and supplies to load some shotgun shells with silver shot.

On the 24th they returned to the Castle and spent the following two days loading shotgun shells and preparing for camping out in the glen with the sheep.

On the 27th the Sheppard had brought the herd back near the castle – so as not to be too far off if attacked again.

On the 28th – the night of the full moon – The adventurers had slept through the afternoon so they could be rested up for the evening. When they awoke they found that the steward had had an argument with the Sheppard and sent him off – not wanting the flock near the castle in case there was some wild creature attacking them!

The group made off in a great hurry to try and catch the Sheppard and his flock. They caught up just at sundown and made a campfire to wait out the night.

Around midnight they heard an unearthly baying that set the sheepdogs to flight and the Gurkha over the edge… (yeah, seriously..) He suffered two points of mental anguish and more or less sat out the encounter with Laurel alternately slapping him and reassuring him that his mother loved him… or something like that.

Cranston, on the other hand, who raised four times on his spririt/guts check (nothing… NOTHING could be so horrifying as four years in the mud and blood with trench mortar shells whistling down on you night and day) was unfazed. He raised again a number of times on a notice roll and dashed off towards the woods where the sound had come from., follwed closely by the Sheppard and not-quite-so-closely by they limping Prussian.

Pulling a Joker he dashed straight into the woods with his shotgun at the ready! He blundered into the giant beast (hey, lookit that, it REALLY IS a werewolf!?) and let him have it with the shotgun (BAM!) causing FOUR WOUNDS!? (seriously?! My big bad beastie taken down in ONE shot!?) The werewolf rolled two ones to soak… I wasn’t going to let them off that easy so I burned another benny and tried soaking again and soaked three of the wounds (HA! ducked behind a tree!)

Shortly after the Sheppard arrived blew a buch of branches off a tree. Cranston and von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg both gave him another pair of blasts that sent him reeling back into the woods and falling over with a big crash!

They cautiously approached the bushes where he went down but found only the body of a naked man peppered with shotgun blasts. The Sheppard was fetched to see if he could identify the body. The Shepard was horrified to discover it was the Lairds son!!?

(DA-DA-DAAAAAAAAAHH!)

So, after briefly considering ditching the body in a bog, they wrapped it up and hauled it back to the castle. There it took some persuading and intimidating to get the estate staff to let them bring the body in and put it on ice but not allow Anyone to see it… The Laird, who was still in London was summoned, and a search party was arranged for Jock, the Larids son who had arrived back just after the party had left and had set out after them…

A Day before Mackenzie arrived The preacher and a couple burly boys from the village wandered up to the castle and, having heard rumours, demanded to see the body. There was a bit of a tussle and von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg had to do some serious intimidating (with the help of his broom-handled mauser) and escorted them out of the castle at gun-point.

On the first of October the Laird returned, along with some policemen from Inverness (having been informed of the strange behavior by the preacher). He was very much distraught to find his only son dead but after interviewing the Sheppard and all others involved he decided not to press charges and sent them on their way….

Coming Soon to Savage Timmy's Playhouse:

More WW2 East Front action. had to cancel this past week's game at the last moment - but we will be raging ahead this week on World War Wednesday for sure!! Stay tuned fro more Horror action next Savage Saturday!

Monday, May 10, 2010

No Realms of Cthulhu! this past Savage Saturday Night. I was really damn tired because I had gotten up at 6AM to for a 60Km ride (oh, and I’d been up until midnight the previous evening painting and watching a movie)…. AND I was planning to go for another ride Sunday morning…. AND a John and Brenda were away…. AND I figured Chrisitian might be a bit sad about having missed the last couple WW2 games… AND… well… honestly, I just didn’t have any Cthulhu-type adventures ready…. So I ran a quick Weird War Two skirmish scenario.

8 July 1941, Somewhere west of Bialystok, Poland

SITUATION

It has been just over two weeks since the Germans have invaded. Two Panzer Groups of Army Group Center smashed through the front lines and within a week met near Minsk to seal off a pocket of nearly 300000 Soviet soldiers in and around Bialystok, Poland. Another 10 days of hard fighting by the follow-on infantry has reduced the pocket to a few small groups of defenders. Most have surrendered, some fight to the death, a few have tried to escape to continue the fight behind German lines or make the long march back to friendly lines.

I deployed the Germans on the table – on both flanks, right at the edge of the table. Really I didn’t mean for them to get in contact, they were just there to funnel the players into the middle where they would meet the nasty surprise – a pack of werewolves hiding in the woods!

Rather than running that gauntlet, however, They players decided to fight their way up one side!?

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Christian showed up first so he got to wear the “lucky Pilotka”… of course then I forgot to give him the bonus benny, but it seems to have turned out lucky in the end anyway…

Turn one they were in contact and blazing away at each other – more or less ineffectively – in the dark

It was a full moon – July 8th, I did check to see when the first full moon during Operation Barbarossa was - so the darkness penalty was only -2… but still.. then there was cover, etc…

There was also a machine-gun team nearby – but because I didn’t want to crowd everyone up too much (ans was taking pity on the PCs) they held their position in reserve.

The Germans on the other side advanced into a position of good cover and then also held.

Ooh.. the Germans tagged one…

This was starting to look like it was going to take forever (Did I mention that I was tired and wanted to go to bed… well… somewhat earlier than we normally do…?) so I decided to impose a time limit – once we hit turn ten I’d star rolling a d10 – if the total was equal to or greater than 20 – game over. If they weren’t off the table by then they lost – more Germans arrived and completely overwhelmed them. Or more likely Germans in the rear heard the firefight and moved more into a blocking position so it would have been impossible for any of the Russians to escape…

Then the Russians got lucky took out one German, shook another..

This was the first time I EVER saw the Combat Medic edge work – the Germans took out a Russian, Medical Aide Anya Putyatin rushed forward and did her healing roll at -2 (+2 for healing and a further -2 for darkness – hard to spot the holes spurting blood in the dark!!), and bippity-bam Russian Conscript returned to action shaken!

The big Turn Tracker Die was ticking away and no one was moving – every turn I made a loud “tick” every time I turned it to give the palyers a hint that they had very limited time!! Still they sat in the bush and blazed away…

Then lucky-pilotka-wearing Christian pulled a joker! As we were using the showdown skirmish ruleshe rolled for Fortune and Calamity and came up with "Team Work" - a second unit within 12" gets to act on the joker and has all the usual benefits - well with that they shot up the Germans pretty good!

I started to move up the MG team. Then Christian got another Joker… he rolled for Fortune and Calamity and came up with “Out Of Ammo”… Guess who...? That’s right the MG team!!

So the MG team high-tailed, having no ammo whatsoever, it back to their hiding spot in the bushed to the rear and the Russians charged Obergefrieter Schmidt! The conscripts were so bad at close combat that they needed the sarge and the sniper to come in and help them by beating the Obergefrieter to death with the stocks of their firearms (SMGs and Sniper rifles lacking bayonets and all…)

They pursued the fleeing Germans through the woods and took out another of the rifle team.

It was now about turn ten… they were nowhere near the side of the table there were to exit off!

So they made a mad dash through woods in the dark… then suddenly…

There was a loud, bonechilling baying coming from somewhere in the woods not very far away – right in the direction they were headed!

Well, maybe it was only bonechilling for the sniper – he was they only one to fail the spirit roll the baying induced!

Next they found themselves being chased by wolves and wolf-like creatures….!

Aaaaaaand the game ended… turn 14, rolled a six…

Hmmmm well that’s pretty anti-climactic….

Shall we play on….?

Of course we shall!!

The Greater werewolf leaped out of the woods and attacked Pavel! I think he got one solid blow in with the stock of his rifle, but after that it was a downhill battle…

The conscripts and Serzhant Levitsky were attacked by the pack of wolves while Anya made a run for it!!

The Russians quickly overcame the wolves – but the terrifying wolfmen were hot on their heels!

Flushed with their victory against the wolves – and realizing they could never out run these devilishly fast creatures – the Russians CHARGED!

It didn’t work out so well and they were torn to shreds in two rounds…

Pavel was also torn to shreds – but it took a good three or four rounds to take down the tough Russian – which gave Anya and Serzhant Levitsky time to make their excape… well from the horrors at least… They DID fail to get off the table within the time limit! So I guess second line troops were alerted and moved into blocking positions. With the creatures nipping at their heels and an overwhelming number of alert Germans to their front, perhaps surrender would seem not so bad…

…or maybe they would choose to go down fighting…? We’ll have to figure that out next time I guess…

Sunday, May 9, 2010

For two weeks in April I ran an adventure called “The Bog” by Michael LaBossiere in our Realms of Cthulhu campaign. I think I got it off the Chaosium some time ago…

April 1920, England

SITUATION

Nearly five years have passed since our last adventure. Dr. Wraight has returned to Academia as a professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge. Freiherr Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg has come to England for a visit; to catch up and compare notes. Sgt. Shivanshu Malaker has been released from the Gurkha rifles and has also traveled to England for a visit. Dr. Wraight has hired him, and a Canadian named Tom Cranston as “field assistants” and has also hired an office assistant named Laurel Trebeau.

Dr. Emma Wraight has been invited by a collegue from Oxford to join her on a survey and potential dig at a site of standing stones in Scotland.

Shorlty after arriving in Scotland one of the Oxford team’s men turns up severely beaten up with his tongue removed… and, despite moving around and gurgling and stuff, is cold and shows no vital signs. Scribbles some clues as to the disposition of two others he was out surveying with and then asks (in writing… and gestures) the group to kill him. Unfortunately the doctor and the constable had arrived and it took some convincing that he was in fact dead and the gurkha promptly removed his head.

The rest of the evening (spanning three days of game time) was spent searching for the two missing members of the team and information about other disappearances, strange happenings and information about the culture that once worshipped at these stones.

An abandoned farmhouse with a rather newer concrete cellar was discovered and showed signs of recent occupation.

Act Two

Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg received a telegram and was called away to Germany to deal with some pressing family business matter.

A Strange note was left at the inn where the group was staying stating that the two missing team members were at the home of a local businessman. It took considerable convincing to get the constable to show them where the house was and allow them to search it.

The constable took them to the house and apologetically explained the situation to the occupant, and the occupant allowed them to search it to clear his name. During a search of the cellar an secret chamber was found. It was empty but showed signes of recent thorough cleaning. The owner of the house claimed it was there when he bought it and presumed the house previously belonged to some smugglers or criminals of some sort…

The groups decided to stake out the house that night. The whole family left in their automobile later in the evening. The group tracked them to the bog. They paddled out to the island with the standing stones and walked into some sort of nasty ritual going on. The battled the cultists and some nasty creature that came out of the bog. The Cultists were all killed, the creature returned to the bog. The missing team members were recovered but their tongues had been cut out…

That’s the VERY short version of what went on. It’s been a couple weeks. I don’t know when I’d ever get around to writing out a more detailed version so this will have to suffice…

Here’s some pics of the climactic battle:

The island in the Bog with the cultists and Bog Zombies…

Did I mention there were Bog Zombies…?! Oh, there were Bog Zombies all right!!

And the big bad beastie from the Bogg arrives (not actually a small Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath! That’s just to show where it was!)

It was a fin adventure with some interesting ideas – behind the scenes there was a power struggle going on within the cult – the outward manifestations causing some utter confusion for the players…

In the day since the Germans invaded Mother Russia all has been chaos and confusion. Constant artillery and aircraft attacks have harassed the regiment’s positions and wrecked havoc with lines of communication since 4am on the 22nd. There have rumours that German tanks have broken through on the flanks and have rampaging in the rear, but there have also been rumors that the NKVD Political Officers have been given authority to summarily execute anyone spreading rumours… so no one talks about it much…

The regiment has taken up a defensive position in some low hills and awaiting the advancing Germans – or some news about what is going on and/or what to do!

The previous afternoon Serzhant Zaitzoff’s squad was sent to patrol the woods in front of their position. They discovered a team of German… and (much to the surprise of the GM!) utterly wiped them out.

Upon their return Rayadovoy Gelakhov was transferred back to Serzhant Trotsky’s Squad. He had been sent with Zaitzoff because the new polish conscripts were thought to be “unreliable”… they had proven themselves otherwise!

The following evening the unit was subjected to a brutal artillery bombardment and at dawn the German infantry attacked.

SCENARIO

The Russians must first set up a defensive position of trenches and wire. Then, after determining casualties from artillery barrage, the Russians must defend their position against a German infantry assault!

The Germans objective is to kill or capture the Russians and or exit their forces off the far edge of the table

Victory points:Kill or Capture half the Russians +1Kill or Capture ALL of the Russians +2Exit half of force off the far edge of the table before turn 20 +1Exit all of force off the far edge of the table before turn 20 +2

Total1 = Minor Victory2 = Major Victory3= Decisive Victory

The Russian objective is to prevent these objectives. If The Germans fail to complete ANY of their objectives it is a Minor Victory for the Russians. If the Russians kill or capture more than half the German force it is a Major Victory. If the Russians kill or capture the entire German force it is a Decisive Victory.

FORCES

Soviet Forces (Elements of the 13th Rifle Regiment, 2nd Rifle Division, I Rifle Corps, Tenth Army, Western Special Military District)

As john was the first to show up he got to morrow the pilotka (gaining him a bonus benny – as I decided to reimplement the old house rule that anyone wearing appropriate head attire would get a bonus benny!)

For the preliminary bombardment I figured we’d roll d6 for each Russian soldier. On a 6 they were hit for 2d6 – but added 4 to their toughness (for the hard cover). This was done four times. I thought it might weed out a couple conscripts or start one of the wild cards off with a wound… but these soviets were made of sterner stuff

After each barrage Serzhant Trotsky (who had been issued a flare pistol to call in an artillery bombardment ifhe spotted germans in the area) had to see if they spotted the German attack. The roll was at -6 and only REALLY mattered if they spotted them after the first one… of course if they went bust on one of the others – he would be convinced that they were out there and waste their single flare calling for an artillery barrage on phantoms… he did not… but he also didn’t spot the Germans moving into position after the final German bombardment and thus missed his opportunity to (attempt to) call in thunder on the attackers!

I also had everyone roll a vigor roll to see if staying up all night (during the bombardment) had tired them out – the conscripts failed and gained a level of fatigue.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

The Russians initial dispositions.

Serzhant Trotsky took a trench with the fresh conscripts and deployed his two dependable troopers in the other.

The wire behind them must have been insisted upon by the company’s Political Officer…?

The Germans begin their advance through the woods!

Despite his injury from the previous days engagement Rayadovoy Gelakhov proved himself the hero of the day! Patiently waiting for Germans to cross the a gap in the trees – two turns in a row he tagged infantry as they dashed across from cover to cover. Then, as the first squad’s LMG team was strting to set up in the woods directly to their front he sniped the gunner.

Before they could roll the gunner out of the way and set someone else up on the MG34, Rayadovoy Satan opened up and took out two more of the fire team. Luckily they had pulled a joker earlier and gained a benny through a roll on the fortune and calamity table and the remaining rifleman used that to recover from being shaken by the whole incident!!

The German second squad set up it’s MG at the edge of a stand of woods and started pouring fire down on Serzhant Trotsky’s position. They were just out of short range and didn’t hit a darn thing for all the turns that they blazed away! After the first two or three turns the conscripts were down to “last shots” (having been dealt a couple of deuces right off the bat) and I ruled that for rifles that meant that only half of them (rounded up) could fire each turn.

Despite the First Squad’s troubles things were looking pretty good for the Germans. Both squads rifle teams had made their way around the flanks and were preparing for an assault. The Russians looked doomed….

At the edge of the woods the Second Squad’s Rifle Team tossed a grenade at the soviet trench and fired point blank – the grenade bounced and exploded harmlessly to the rear of the trench and the fire was ineffective.

Meanwhile over on the other flank the First Squad’s Rifle Team, lead by Feldwebel Meuller, was dashing through the bush to prepare for the their own assault. The lone rifleman from the LMG team hit Rayadovoy Satan seriously wounding him (three wounds!). It seemed like it might be all over for the Russians…

Then Gelakhov shot Feldwebel Meuller. He staggered. Gelakhov shot him again and he went down!! He died of his wounds shortly thereafter.

Unshaken by the loss of their feldwebel (perhaps it was seen as an opportunity for advancement?) the remaining riflemen pressed on. One tossed a grenade and missed the trench – but landed it close enough for the concusion to knock out the fading Rayadovoy Satan. (Amazingly he passed his vigor roll – at -4?! – and thus not only did he not die on the spot from bleeding out, the disabled arm will eventually heal someday and be fine… I should say COULD eventually heal… if he lives that long!)

On Rayadovoy Gelakhov’s next card (a joker!) things went down the tank for the Germans! Gelakhov tossed a grenade back at them and took two out, and shook another – the remaining rifleman broke.

(I have a hat to wear too! Yay for funny hats! I hope Comrade Millerov shows up some time with his ushanka!)

The Second Squad’s assault went in…

The first round two Germans ganged up on the conscript on the end, two others attacked a lone soviet, the soviets fought back ferociously and wouldn’t not give in. The German section commander just ran up to the lip of the trench and unloaded his SMG at Serzhant Trotsky. Serzhant Trotsky, who had been caught off guard looked behind himself at the bullet riddle wall of the trench… looked down at his body as if to double check to see if he hadn’t been shot and maybe hadn’t noticed yet, then looked up at the German squad leader and riddled him with bullets (three hits… each causing enough damage take him out!).

The Soviets attacked back in the close combat and were unable to overcome their opponents.

Feeling a bit more desperate the Germans started attacking WILDLY – they hit two, but only took out one of the soviet conscripts! One of the soviets was then able to poke a wildly attacking German and took one down.

The following round… the same round Gelakhov pulled his joker… and then rolled “Quick and the Dead” (allowing the conscripts to act on his joker AND gain the benefits of it!?)… BEFORE the Germans got to go (thus their parry was still reduced to the previous turns wild attacks….) They took out another German rifleman and the Germans morale failed. One of the two remaining surrendered, the other made a run for it into the woods.

The Aftermath

The two remaining riflemen from first squad also fled. They left the two injured by the grenade behind, but checked on those wounded further back and dragged them away. The remaining rifleman in the first squad’s MG team fell back with on of the others who had also been lightly wounded. Two of those left behind were KIAs and two were seriously wounded.

The bloodthirsty Gelakhov, thinking his trenchmate dead leaped out of his trench and pursued the Germans, he finished off the two seriously wounded Germans making it 5 KIAs for the first squad (including Feldwebel Meuller)

Of the Second Squad’s Rifle Team the Section Commander and one other riflemen were KIA. One surrendered, and another two wounded were captured (one seriously wounded, one lightly wounded).

Total losses for the two attacking German sections: 7 KIA, 3 POW, 2 other wounded (but escaped).